Spelling and Grammar Standards

C&C Leader

the space around the / backslash only has to happen when talking about like Fighting / Psychic type Pokemon, and other Pokegrammar like the separation between base stats and EVs (252 SpA / 252 SpD / 4 Spe)

and/or shouldn't have spaces around it and other normal English uses don't need it (I can't think of any other besides and/or atm but they're out there I know)

C&C Leader

<Honko> specs gatr is a force to be reckoned with
<Honko> choice specs is the crux of the set
<Honko> when its counters are removed it should not be underestimated
<Honko> 252 spa evs are used to maximize its power
<Honko> a timid nature is a possibility but the power drop is noticeable
<Honko> it's not all sunshine and butterflies for feraligatr though
<Honko> hydro pump is the obligatory stab move and will do some damage to pokemon such as rhydon and magcargo
<Honko> entry hazards are very helpful for feraligatr
<Honko> aerodactyl, crustle, druddigon, ferroseed, mesprit, omastar, rhydon, steelix, and uxie are all options to lay stealth rock
<Molk> you forgot pineco
<Honko> you should also use clefable as feraligatr is horribly crippled by any status

please try to change/delete these sentences when you see them, they show a lack of actual metagame knowledge and are entirely overdone and useless in an analysis.

this decree has been made by gp king Oglemi, all shall bow to and praise him

"<Honko> 252 spa evs are used to maximize its power". I thought we were supposed to talk about the EVs no matter what. Should that just not happen in these cases entirely? If not, what should be done about it anyhow?

"<Honko> a timid nature is a possibility but the power drop is noticeable"
You want it to just be more unique? I mean, something has to be said about alternate natures...I think.

Also, about the entry hazards+status thing. Is this just a question of how badly the pokemon needs it?

C&C Leader

"<Honko> 252 spa evs are used to maximize its power". I thought we were supposed to talk about the EVs no matter what. Should that just not happen in these cases entirely? If not, what should be done about it anyhow?

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If the EV spread is a standard 252/252 sweeper spread, you don't have to say anything, it should be obvious. If the EVs do something specific, that's when you need to explain it, as does any non-standard 252/252 spread. Even just saying "Speed is maxed to Speed tie with other base 95s so that a sweep isn't cut short by Drapion" is acceptable.

"<Honko> a timid nature is a possibility but the power drop is noticeable"
You want it to just be more unique? I mean, something has to be said about alternate natures...I think.

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Unless the alternate nature actually does something, don't mention it unless you can explain something it does. Just saying that phrase is entirely pointless.

Also, about the entry hazards+status thing. Is this just a question of how badly the pokemon needs it?

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Again, unless you can think of something specific entry hazards do (or status), don't mention it. A good example would be gaining an OHKO on Chansey with Stealth Rock as opposed to not; if you just say entry hazards can gain some OHKOes tells the reader nothing.

Moderator

Something I want more concrete: what is the intended audience of our analyses? I've been seeing analyses with words like "catalyst" and "amalgamation." I'm assuming we want these analyses to be readable for the normal person, but there's nothing standardized on where to draw the line. Thoughts?

Moderator

C&C Leader

Something I want more concrete: what is the intended audience of our analyses? I've been seeing analyses with words like "catalyst" and "amalgamation." I'm assuming we want these analyses to be readable for the normal person, but there's nothing standardized on where to draw the line. Thoughts?

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If the word fits without sounding forced it's fine, nothing wrong with building people's vocabulary. Up to the author and GPer to decide if there's contention on word choice.

I can understand the worry when it comes to non-English speakers, but we do have translations projects :>

I think there are two cases where this word is acceptable to use, and being a pseudo-conjunction is not one of them. Let me elaborate.

You are given the option between two or more things. Let's say Move 4 in an analysis is Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Ground. Then, you would say "Hidden Power Ice hits Dragons, while Hidden Power Ground is necessary for Heatran". An incorrect use would be like this. Let's say Move 3 is Icy Wind, and Move 4 is Hidden Power Bug. "Icy Wind hits Dragons and slows, while Hidden Power Bug is for the lols". This implies that you have the option between Icy Wind and Hidden Power Bug, but they are separate move on the same set and you can have both. Obviously, the reader can easily see that, but I feel it is still important to have the intended meaning. It should be "Icy Wind hits Dragons and slows, and Hidden Power Bug is for the lols". This is not an unnecessary change IMO.

Something is happening at the same time as something else. A non-Pokemon example would be "He went to the store while I set up the TV". Here, I am setting up the TV at the same time that he is at the store. In Pokemon, something like "Earthquake hits Fire-types hard, while making use of Quagsire's decent attack" would be the correct use. After all, when you use Earthquake, you are also making use of Quagsire's attack. However, "Fire Blast dents Bug-types, while also OHKOing Ferrothorn" is incorrect, and should be changed to "Fire Blast dents Grass-types and also OHKOes Ferrothorn" (or something like that) every time. Sure, when you read the former, you understand the same thing as the latter. However, not only is "while" awkward sounding, it also means that as you hit Bug-types with Fire Blast, Ferrothorn is being OHKOed at the same time. WaterBomb brought up a good point in IRC, that since it is singles, there will never a Bug-type and Ferrothorn on the field at once, so such changes are unnecessary. However, I think the meaning of the sentence needs to be correct, even if the readers' understanding doesn't change.

tl;dr: the readers' understanding when using "while" might be the same as not using it, but the sentence's meaning changes. We should use the correct meaning, since it also ensures the correct understanding.

edit: Oh yeah, I forgot one more. It's similar to the options one, but
using while to show contrast. "While base 101 Speed is decent, it still gets trolled by speed creep." That is correctly using "while".

1.) Is there a standard spelling that should be used for the noun match-up/matchup. The first has 77 results when I search site:smogon.com/bw/pokemon on Google and the second has 44, so it seems like both are used a lot. I know there's a clear distinction on set-up/setup, so I figured I'd ask.

2.) Is there some rule of thumb for when to use speed and when to use Speed? A lot of time it's obvious (eg. +6 Shuckle has more Speed than neutral nature Deoxys-S vs. Pikachu and Lucario got pulled over because the speed of their car was over the legal limit), but sometimes it's less clear and I'm not always sure what to do (cases like 'this set tries to take advantage of Arceus's power, (S/s)peed, and coverage').

C&C Leader

1.) Is there a standard spelling that should be used for the noun match-up/matchup. The first has 77 results when I search site:smogon.com/bw/pokemon on Google and the second has 44, so it seems like both are used a lot. I know there's a clear distinction on set-up/setup, so I figured I'd ask.

2.) Is there some rule of thumb for when to use speed and when to use Speed? A lot of time it's obvious (eg. +6 Shuckle has more Speed than neutral nature Deoxys-S vs. Pikachu and Lucario got pulled over because the speed of their car was over the legal limit), but sometimes it's less clear and I'm not always sure what to do (cases like 'this set tries to take advantage of Arceus's power, (S/s)peed, and coverage').

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1) I prefer match-up, but there isn't a consensus between dictionaries afaik. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/matchup This one seems to lean towards "match-up" for our purposes, since it's the pairing for athletic competition, while "matchup" is used more directly for a sports match. Both can be manipulated to fit our needs though.

2) Use your gut to decipher what the author is talking about. If you think it's a clear distinction that they're talking about the Pokemon's base Speed, then it's capitalized. If they're just talking about its quickness, then it isn't capitalized. I've always disliked the vagueness here myself, but it's not something I've ever been too concerned about.

We just started doing doubles analyses, and I have to ask: Should it be double or Doubles?

After all, a sentence like "the doubles metagame" is very similar to "the Ubers metagame", and Ubers, being a tier, is capitalised. I guess it's an abbreviation of Smogon Doubles, but then again full abbreviations such as RU are capitalised. But then again, we don't have a partial abbreviation like this in any meta we have analyses for.

While i'm here, could there be a bit about how you don't need to write Landorus-I, but just Landorus, and the same for Thundurus and Tornadus?

<Honko> specs gatr is a force to be reckoned with
<Honko> choice specs is the crux of the set
<Honko> when its counters are removed it should not be underestimated
<Honko> 252 spa evs are used to maximize its power
<Honko> a timid nature is a possibility but the power drop is noticeable
<Honko> it's not all sunshine and butterflies for feraligatr though
<Honko> hydro pump is the obligatory stab move and will do some damage to pokemon such as rhydon and magcargo
<Honko> entry hazards are very helpful for feraligatr
<Honko> aerodactyl, crustle, druddigon, ferroseed, mesprit, omastar, rhydon, steelix, and uxie are all options to lay stealth rock
<Molk> you forgot pineco
<Honko> you should also use clefable as feraligatr is horribly crippled by any status

please try to change/delete these sentences when you see them, they show a lack of actual metagame knowledge and are entirely overdone and useless in an analysis.

this decree has been made by gp king Oglemi, all shall bow to and praise him

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does this also apply to the sentence i've seen in many analysis' that generally goes "x nature gains many OHKOes and 2HKOes that y nature doesn't"? I presume that it does as it seems like completely useless fluff meant only for padding the length of an analysis, but I would like an answer please.

C&C Leader

In a lot of doubles analysis, I have noticed the term speed control with the s in speed lowercase. I have been changing this to Speed control because this seems to be referring to the Speed stat, but I've been noticing it enough that I'm starting to wonder if this is a correct doubles term and the s should be lowercase. Is there a special rule for this in doubles / is this a special doubles term?